Mondays with Mike: Sanford hoping Hawaii is on his team’s mind

By Ryan Greene

Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009 | 2:30 a.m.

Editor's note: Each Monday, UNLV football coach Mike Sanford meets with the media to discuss last weekend's action and next weekend's matchup. So each week the Sun will bring you notes and quotes discussing both.

UNLV coach Mike Sanford hopes that the slight sense of frustration and disappointment that lingered on Sunday from his team's heartbreaking 23-21 loss a night earlier to Oregon State was the last he'll see of it.

"I would say probably a combination of coming back from disappointment and analyzing the game, looking at what we did and looking at why we didn't win," he said in summing up his team's Sunday get-together. "The mood was a combination of, I think, frustration and analyzing the reality of what happened, why it happened, and what we must improve on and get better at to win those close games."

Sanford said a good portion of the team's film session was centered on four big run plays that the defense allowed, and six crucial offensive snaps that helped to stymie solid drives that could have produced points.

"On defense, if you take those four plays out, they average 1.8 yards a rush — all four of those plays led to scores," he said. "You take six plays out on offense, and that's a different game. We score more points and it's a whole different ending."

But, of course, hindsight is still 20-20, and the Rebels essentially have an entire season still to come.

And the fact is, Sanford doesn't want anyone on his team taking satisfaction from Saturday night's experience at Sam Boyd Stadium.

"To me, our deal and looking at the last game, one of the things that I believe very strongly is that the days are over where we're gonna ever be satisfied with playing well and not winning," he said. "To me, it's all about winning, and it's all about making plays to win a close game. So that's all that matters."

So on to this Saturday, then ...

The Rebels will welcome 2-0 Hawaii to Sam Boyd Stadium for another 8 p.m. kickoff this weekend, and finding motivation for several players on the UNLV roster won't be too difficult.

"I think there's a lot of interest in this game in a lot of ways," Sanford said. "We recruit the Hawaiian islands and Polynesian players very aggressively, and that's one of the main things we do from a recruiting standpoint. There's a lot of interest. There's a lot of Polynesian people in Southern Nevada. It's gonna be an exciting atmosphere on Saturday night."

UNLV has five players who call Hawaii home — defensive tackle Ramsey Feagai, long snapper Kamu Kapanui, defensive end Malo Taumua, guard Sean Tesoro and offensive lineman Daniel Kaanana.

"Just in general, I think it helps us, No. 1 to play them, No. 2 to beat them — it helps recruiting," Sanford added, regarding the game's significance. "I can't quantify it or be real specific, but I would say it's definitely a big help.

"This is gonna be an emotional game for a lot of guys, and that's gonna be an important thing, to play with passion but be under control."

More on Hawaii

If the Warriors added the name 'Road' before their mascot name this week, no one could really blame them.

After downing Washington State, 38-20, on Saturday afternoon in Seattle, Hawaii boarded a plane and headed straight to Las Vegas, checking into their team hotel late in the evening.

They're in town all week and will hold practices at Palo Verde High after taking Monday off.

But don't think that Hawaii living out of suitcases necessarily works in the Rebels' favor.

Sanford pointed out that the Warriors stayed on the mainland the week leading up to their last game at Sam Boyd Stadium in 2007.

En route to an undefeated regular season, after defeating Louisiana Tech in overtime, 45-44, they stayed in Houston for the week before coming to town and thoroughly whipping the Rebels, 49-14, behind star quarterback Colt Brennan.

This time, the Warriors bring another big-time arm in the form of senior Greg Alexander, who Sanford dug deep to compare to former Michigan/Idaho State quarterback Matt Gutierrez. He started for ISU against UNLV back in 2006, and now the backup quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs is in his third season as an NFL reserve.

Keying an offensive onslaught against Washington State, Alexander went 26-of-36 for 453 yards and three touchdown passes.

The Cougars turned the ball over seven times and certainly helped the Warriors some, but Greg McMackin's club was still impressive when the ball was in its possession.

"They had 63 plays for 626 yards," Sanford said. "That's almost 10 yards a play. Obviously (Alexander's) very good.

"They're a passing team. Run-and-shoot, committed to the pass. We've got to be able to slow them down, contain them and rush the passer. I think we're better than we were a year ago, we're better than we were two years ago in those areas."

Injury updates

Senior defensive end/linebacker Jason Beauchamp gave an inspired performance Saturday night, playing roughly half the game and registering five tackles and a crucial late sack.

But he was indeed playing hurt. Noticeably limping after the game, he did not re-aggravate his sprained right ankle.

"You can tape it and brace it to avoid the pain," Sanford said. "I don't think he damaged it any more, but he still has swelling. It's not over yet. Even though he played, that's gonna be an ongoing thing. Hopefully not too long."

His status for this weekend is uncertain.

"I don't know what his status is as far as being able to practice normally," Sanford added, as Beauchamp was held out of most of last week's practice sessions.

As for junior quarterback Omar Clayton, who left with a sprained right knee during Saturday's second half, he was back out at practice, running around just fine on Sunday evening.

"He's gonna get an MRI," Sanford said, adding that it's simply precautionary. "In all of the manipulation stuff, there's no visible damage and not a lot of swelling. So we're gonna have to see the MRI."

Junior defensive end Malo Taumua's foot will not affect him this weekend, as X-rays at halftime Saturday came back negative. He was slow to come out of the locker room after being stepped on late in the first half.

As for sophomore running back C.J. Cox, his hamstring is now healed, and he's expected to get carries and touches behind Channing Trotter, who appears to be entrenched as UNLV's starter.

As for the crowd ...

Sam Boyd Stadium held nearly 26,000 fans Saturday night, but some locals were disappointed that roughly 8,000 of them were wearing orange rather than red.

Expect a similar crowd Saturday night, with Hawaii having a hefty amount of backers in the stands.

"That's an ongoing thing," Sanford said. "I think as we build it, they will come. As we win, they will come. Honestly, I think that there's a lot of cities (like that). San Diego was like this with the Chargers. We played Green Bay, and I'd say two-thirds of the stadium was wearing Green Bay stuff. I just think there's towns that are like this, and they're waiting for us to give them something to come out for, and I really believe they'll come."

After Saturday's home game, the Rebels aren't back at Sam Boyd until Oct. 10 against BYU.